A £1m (€1.17m) investment by the Irish-based Merrion Vaults in Newcastle in the United Kingdom is set to create the city’s first safe deposit facility.

The new facility, which is known as Newcastle Vaults, is owned by Merrion and has been launched in response to major banks withdrawing safety deposit box services.

It follows similar initiatives by Merrion in Dublin and Glasgow.

The company’s Co-founder David Walsh said the move into Newcastle “is part of our ambitious plans for further growth across the UK.

“We’re looking forward to building the business in the city, providing a much-needed service that will ultimately give peace of mind to people who require a safe haven for their valuable and irreplaceable possessions.”

Meanwhile, Co-founder Seamus Fahy, said: “Cost-cutting measures at high street banks means that secure storage is being phased out and so customers who rely on the boxes to keep their treasured items safe are now left with having nowhere to store them.”

Based in the centre of Newcastle, and with capacity for 15,000 boxes, it offers safe-keeping services to private individuals and businesses, allowing them to safeguard items such as cash, jewellery, family heirlooms, title deeds, and gold bullion.

The state-of-the art purpose built vault includes surveillance technology such as seismic shock sensors, round-the-clock monitoring and biometric identification technology.

A recent survey by Liberty Insurance has shown some interesting facts about Irish homeowners and their security habits. The study carried out by Millward Brown on behalf of Liberty Insurance shows that a huge number of homeowners in Ireland have a very lax attitude to home security.

Some of the most telling facts and numbers to come from the survey are:

47% of people don’t have a house alarm – with only 1 in 3 who do using it regularly

23% of Dublin homeowners are likely to leave doors unlocked

22% of people rely on neighbours to watch their home

17% of people don’t lock their front door

1 in 3 people feel relaxed leaving their home unattended

With most burglaries being opportunistic crimes as opposed to planned crimes, the figures above are a stark reminder that home security should be paramount in homeowners minds, but often this is obviously not the case. With this in mind the simple 3-word message which can help you keep your home secure is:
CHECK – LOCK – LEAVE.

To keep your valuables completely safe & secure renting a safe deposit box is also a good idea. At Merrion Vaults you can rent your own private safe deposit box with access 7 days a week from less than €4 per week.
Call Merrion Vaults today on: (01) 254 7900 or go to www.MerrionVaults.ie